Shane Warne Biography: Age, Death, Early Life, Family, Education, Cricket Career, Records, Performances, Net Worth, and More

Shane Warne Biography: An Australian cricket legend and one of cricket’s all-time greats, died of a suspected heart attack on Friday (4 March 2022) at the age of 52. He was named as one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Century, claimed 708 Test wickets in a 15-year career for Australia, and in 1999, was also a World Cup winner.

As per a statement given by Warne’s management to Fox News, he passed away in Thailand of a suspected heart attack. The statement read, “Shane was found unresponsive in his villa and despite the best efforts of medical staff, he could not be revived.”

Without a doubt, Shane Warne was a true icon of world cricket. He was a man who almost single-handedly revived the art of legspin in the early 1990s. He brought a new glamour and attacking intent to legspin along with his bottle-blond hair allied to a keen tactical brain that he used to outfox a host of unwitting opponents in his pomp. Take a look at Shane Warne’s family, early life, cricket career, records, performances, etc.

Shane Warne: Key Facts

Shane Warne Biography: Early Life, Family, Marriage, Children, Education

He was born on 13 September 1969 to German-born Bridgette and Keith Warne in Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia. He went to Hampton High School from Grades 7-9 and then, after this, was offered a sports scholarship to attend Mentone Grammar. The final three years of school were spent at Mentone. In 1983-84, his first representative honour he represented the University of Melbourne Cricket Club in the then Victorian Cricket Association under-16 Dowling Shield competition. That time, he bowled a mixture of leg-spin and off-spin. He was a lower-order batsman.

His relaxed manner, bleached hair, stud earring, and fondness for surfing made him a folk hero among young cricket fans across the world. He joined the following season, St. Kilda Cricket Club near his home suburb of Black Rock. In 1987, during the cricket off-season, he played five games of Australian rules football for the St Kilda Football Club’s under-19 team. He was delisted in the 1988 Victorian Football League season by St Kilda, and he started focussing solely on cricket. In 1990, he was chosen to train at the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide.

As a professional player, he joined the Accrington Cricket Club of the Lancashire League for the 1991 season. It was a good season for him as a bowler. He took 73 wickets at 15.4 runs each but scored only 329 runs at an average of 15.

On 15 February 1991, Shane Warne made his first-class cricket debut and took 0/61 and 1/41 for Victoria against Western Australia at the Junction Oval in Melbourne. Then he was selected for Australia’s B team. He toured Zimbabwe with them in September 1991.

The second tour match was at Harare Sports Club. Shane Warne recorded his first-class haul of five wickets or more in an innings when he took 7/49 in the second innings. Therefore, Australia’s B team won by nine wickets.

After returning to Australia, he took 3/14 and 4/42 for Australia A against a touring West Indian side in December 1991. Warne was brought into the team for the third Test against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground a week later because the incumbent spinner, Peter Taylor had taken only one wicket in the first two Tests.

He married Simone Callahan in 1995, and the couple had three children. The couple divorced in 2005.

Shane Warne: Cricket Career

Before being selected for Australia, he played seven matches in the Sheffield Shield domestic club competition. He made his test debut against India in Sydney in 1991-92. Warne took 34 wickets in the 1993 Ashes series against England in six Tests at an average of 25.79. In the 1993 series, he was best remembered for one ball, bowled to England’s Mike Gatting at Old Trafford, Manchester.

It was Shane Warne’s first ball in a Test in England. It established a huge psychological advantage for him and the Australian team. This lasted into the next Ashes series in 1994-95.

In the Ashes series, the wickets taken by Warne were 27 at 20.33, which included a match-winning 8 for 71 in the second innings of the first test and a hat trick in the second test.

He also faced controversy in 1998 when it was revealed that he and his fellow Australian cricketer, Mark Waugh, had taken bribes from an Indian bookmaker four years earlier. It was claimed by the pair that they had given only pitch information and weather forecasts. But the two were secretly fined by the Australian Cricket Board soon after the bribes were given.

In 2000, despite the scandal, he was named one of the Five Cricketers of the Century by Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack.

He further encountered controversy in February 2003 when he was ejected from the World Cup in South Africa after a drug test revealed the presence of a banned diuretic. Subsequently, he received a 12-month ban.

After his return in March 2004, in his first Test match, he took his 500th wicket and became the second bowler to have accomplished the feat. By the end of the season (2003–2004), Warne and Sri Lankan off-spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan had broken the record (519) for Test wickets set in 2001 by Courtney Walsh of the West Indies.

In just 63 matches, he took 300 test wickets. He became the first bowler to reach 600 wickets in the test format in 2005.

Warne retired from Test cricket in 2007 but continued to play at club level until 2011.

In his international career, totals included an unprecedented 708 Test wickets. In 2007, his record was broken by Muralitharan.

Shane Warne: Twenty20 Career

After taking retirement from international cricket, he was signed as the captain of Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League in 2008.

In the first season of the competition, he led the Royals to victory. Therefore, for four more seasons, he continued the captaincy of the Royals, and 2011 was the last season with the franchise.

In November 2011, he was signed as a player for the Melbourne Stars in Australia’s inaugural Big Bash League (BBL). He took seven wickets in eight matches at an economy rate of 6.72 runs per over.

In July 2013, he officially retired from all formats. He confirmed that he would no longer captain the Melbourne Stars in the BBL.

He captained the Rest of the World side in the Bicentenary Celebration match at Lord’s in July 2014.

Shane Warne: Recognition

Cricket Australia and Sri Lanka Cricket decided to name the Australia–Sri Lanka Test cricket series the Warne–Muralitharan Trophy in honour of Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan in 2007.

He was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 2009.

Shane Warne: Death

On 4 March 2022, he died in Thailand of a suspected heart attack at the age of 52.

Shane Warne: Performance Stats

Career Averages

_{Source: espncricinfo}